The Order of Midnight Episode 6: My Enemy's Enemy Part II
by legacycloud
Summary: The time has come for Kuci and Aeoni and they must come to terms with themselves, with each other, and with their future. Special guest appearances from Mysti, Darth Malgus, Orgus Din and Lord Kallig!


Part 6: My Enemy's Enemy Part II

An even longer time ago, in a galaxy just as far away...

Sitting aboard the battle station at the heart of the stealth armada he had claimed as his own ever since declaring the Emperor dead and proclaiming himself the new Emperor; Darth Malgus shifted uncomfortably in the raised throne which he had now claimed as his own. He looked down upon his thralls as they scurried back and forth whilst going about their business before turning his throne to face out of the window behind him so he could gaze upon the stars in contemplation. For reasons he could not fathom, memories of his former master – Darth Vindican – were creeping to the surface, and this troubled the Dark Lord. As he sat there, Malgus could hear the words his former master once spoke to him during the siege of Balmorra repeating over and over in his mind "You should learn to be more aware of your surroundings, my young apprentice..."

While Malgus continued to stare out into open space, his chief advisor - Arkis Wode – entered the far end of the throne room and scurried towards his Master "Arkis Wode, why are you not at your station?" Malgus addressed his minion without turning to face him while the Anomid knelt fearfully at the base of the stairs leading up to Malgus' throne. "My Lord" Wode spoke with a wavering voice since the mere presence of his master since shivers of fear down his spine "We have received reports of an assault on the Ilum base camp." Upon hearing this Malgus slowly turned his throne back and now looked directly down at Arkis Wode "Then the time has come. What of Darth Serevin?" "My Lord, we cannot raise Serevin on any channel. Reports suggest that the Jedi now hold the base" Darth Malgus narrowed his eyes as he stared down at Arkis Wode, "Serevin was a necessary sacrifice. Return to your station, and reactivate that assassin droid we recovered from Revan's Foundry. I suspect that his services will soon be required." Wode proceeded to back away from Malgus – still bowing as far as he was able – until he was sufficient distance from the Dark Lord to turn and scurry back to the central chamber of the space station.

Mysti groggily opened her eyes and allowed the world to come back into focus. Though her head was pounding she felt more conscious of the incredibly cold floor she was lay on. As her eyes opened further, the residual pain sweeping through her body served as a reminder of her previous waking moments – and the surge of lightning cast upon her by the Sith, Kuci. As relieved as Mysti was that she had not fallen prey to Kuci's lightsaber whilst unconscious, this thought snapped the young Jedi awake who quickly moved to sit up and reassess her surroundings. However, the first sight she laid eyes upon made her wonder briefly if she was still asleep. For as she turned to where the Sith had last been standing to her knowledge – expecting to see her still locked in combat with Aeoni – she saw the two of them standing face to face – no movement, no talking even – just... staring, observing each other. Mysti tilted her head to the side slightly as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. As she watched, dumbfounded, she bore witness to her friend – Aeoni's – lifelong dream of finding her long lost twin sister, who had been presumed dead since an early age by all but Aeoni herself. Mysti silently observed as Aeoni - with tears forming in her eyes - extended her arms in an open gesture and stepped forward towards Kuci, who seemed apprehensive at first and moved to step backwards away from Aeoni's approaching embrace. But with a knowing smile of encouragement from Aeoni, Kuci resisted her natural instinct to back away and allowed Aeoni's embrace, then with a gradual weakening to the realisation of the moment; both sisters succumbed to their own highly charged emotions and cried as they each tightened their embrace on one another.

As the two sisters maintained their emotional embrace, each still attempting to comprehend the gravity of their newfound situation, an apparition appeared behind Mysti. Sensing the disturbance in the force Mysti stood and turned to see what looked like Master Orgus Din, whom she recognised as Aeoni's former master and the man who first introduced the two of them. Alongside him appeared a second apparition – one that Mysti did not recognise beyond the ancient Sith battle armour he appeared to be wearing. Sensing Mysti was still shocked beyond speech at witnessing their arrival, Orgus Din turned to face her with a smile "fear not young Jedi" His voiced echoed as he spoke. The sound of Orgus din's voice drew Aeoni's attention since she recognised it even if this non-corporeal form having liaised with the spirit of her former master before. "Master Orgus?" She spoke with an air of disbelief as she turned to face him. Kuci also looked up through teary eyes and instantly settled upon the second apparition whom she immediately recognised as being that of her ancestor Lord Kallig, having also had dealings with this apparition before. "Lord Kallig?" she asked in even more disbelief than Aeoni had expressed since the last time she spoke with this apparition, he told her he was weakening too much to visit upon her again.

Upon hearing Kuci speak the name of his fellow apparition, Orgus Din turned towards him with a raised eyebrow "I was wondering what drew you here my friend. Your presence explains a lot." Lord Kallig slowly turned his head towards Orgus Din and spoke through the motionless lips of his full facial mask "Yes, the joining of these descendants of mine sent such a strong resurgence through the Force that it pulled me back from the verge of non-existence." Master Orgus Din turned his attention towards his former pupil "Aeoni I owe you an apology. Never did I truly believe that your instincts could have been so right for all the year I trained you. Never did I truly believe that your sister could still be alive." Feeling sympathy towards her former Master for his ill-conceived remorse Aeoni reached out towards him but hesitated, she sensed that she would not be able to take his hand, or rest her hand on his shoulder as she so desired "Master Orgus, there's no way you could have known. Nobody did", "You did" He interjected, making Aeoni blush slightly.

Kuci turned her attention towards Lord Kallig "Why did you never speak of this?" she demanded "All the times you visited upon me and guided me through Darth Zash' betrayals, you never once saw your way to tell me about this..." She turned to face Aeoni "...about my sister?" Lord Kallig appeared to lower his head in shame. As powerful a Sith as he had once been, he had grown so weak that he could not sense the presence of anyone other than Kuci – since she was the one who first disturbed his tomb on Korriban, and now she stood before him; a powerful Dark Lord of the Sith and a leader of the Empire with more power at her control than he could have ever believed was possible. He looked up at her once more; she stood tall in front of him despite her petite build, and her golden eyes felt as though they pierced his very soul as she glared at him expectantly "Blood of my blood; I truly wish I had known about your sister, but since you had no knowledge of her existence – I could not know either."

While Kuci considered Lord Kallig, Master Din stepped forward towards the sisters "Fear not ladies, whilst this turn of events will be troubling for you both; do not allow yourselves to become bitter against a fate to which you had no control over." Kuci turned her attention back towards Aeoni, who offered her a comforting smile before extending her hand – inviting Kuci to her – they hugged together as they listened intently while Lord Kallig continued Master Din's statement "For here you both now stand; separated by time and fate, but at last reunited at this – the chosen time." Din once again picked up their shared dialogue "You girls were a gift from the Force; born into this world at a time when you were most needed. Fate set you both along separate paths so that when you came together on this day, one of you would stand for the Jedi Order and one for the Sith Empire. All your lives you have each known the strength of you own connection with the Force – and that you possessed more than even the strongest of your allies. Now you stand together; knowing and feeling each other's presence – and now for the first time in your lives you are both starting to realise your own, shared destiny." Din paused for thought, allowing Kuci & Aeoni a moment to digest what he had just told them.

The apparitions both watched as the gravity of their news bore down on the sisters; still hugging together Aeoni turned and stared deep into Kuci's bright golden eyes - both clearly aware of the truth behind the apparitions' words. Before either of the sisters could begin to formulate a response Lord Kallig raised his head high and spoke with a confidence and power in his voice he had not known since the time of his fabled confrontation with Tulak Hord "Your shared destiny must wait however, for you both now have a more pressing matter to deal with. Darth Malgus cannot be allowed to upset the balance of the Sith Empire at this delicate time... at YOUR time. For Malgus to succeed would send this galaxy hurtling into an abyss of darkness the likes of which it has never seen. Kuci, Aeoni – you girls must stop Darth Malgus before he establishes his foothold. The fate of the galaxy now rests with the two of you." With that, the apparitions faded away, returning one final time to the Force and leaving the twins to their duties. Neither sister needed words from the other to know their next move; it was time for them to take their appropriated stealth ship to the armada hidden in orbit and find Malgus the Betrayer.

Darth Malgus sat proud at the head of the throne room as he watched the two brazen young women walk purposefully toward him. Having clearly made short work of his defensive forces he could not deny a certain curiosity as to the identity of his would-be executors and so with a casual wave of his hand dismissed his Imperial Guard who all proceeded to line either side of the approach to the throne, all the while the two young women maintained their headstrong pace. Upon reaching the base of the stairs leading up to his throne the red headed Jedi drew a royal blue lightsaber which she trained sharply on him "Darth Malgus, in the name of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic I command you to stand down." He considered the young Jedi for a moment, He struggled to believe that this young woman was responsible for the deaths of so many – including Darth Serevin – yet he could not deny the presence he felt in the room since they entered. The Force was alive with something he had not sensed since the siege of Balmorra. Malgus' eyes darted around the room "So it is you the Dark Council send against me." Mysti - taken aback by Malgus' reference to the Dark Council - leans forward "We are Jedi, we answer only to the Jedi Council and the Galactic Senate." Malgus had continued scanning the room from the corners of his eyes while she spoke but quickly shot his gaze upon the young twilek "Pitiful Jedi, you are nothing but pawns; and so blinded by the dogmatic views of your Jedi Council that you cannot see the truth unfolding around you. You are nothing, you are nobody."

"Malgus the Betrayer - it is YOU who is blind to the truth of things - just as you always have been" Malgus turned to see a third person come out of stealth at the top of the stairs - only a few feet away from him - and cast a bolt of purple lightning at him. As he deflected the bolt with his rapidly drawn lightsaber he looked down upon the young sith whom he had been addressing all along, and as he stared down into her bright golden eyes everything snapped into place in his mind; the resurfacing memory of his former master's words on Balmorra, the golden eyed child they recovered from the royal family, Malgus' first coup against Darth Vindican in faking the child's death whilst having her hidden with Karagga the Hutt on Nar Shaddaa. She continued as Aeoni walked up the stairs - lightsabers drawn - and stood by Kuci's side "And this Jedi is NOT nobody..." Kuci turned briefly to face Aeoni as she reached her side "...she is my sister, and together we will stop you - for the good of the galaxy." Malgus' eyes widened upon the realisation of the implications to what he was hearing. He sensed the truth in Kuci's words and for the first time in his life, he felt fear. "Enough!" He yelled as he cast a powerful surge of lightning that encompassed all of the girls and crippled them, forcing each to their knees. He rose from his throne, pulling the hood of his cape back "Die, or defeat me. Either way the Empire is reborn." Malgus leapt forward and slammed into the ground in front of the girls sending each hurtling backwards as a shockwave of immensive power hit them.

Whilst the shockwave had sent Kuci and Aeoni tumbling back down the stairs, it had sent Mysti hurtling into the adjacent wall and knocked her unconcious. Aeoni jumped to her feet and quickly eyed her unconcious friend. Kuci instinctively hit her stealth field generator and began to circle back around Malgus as he and Aeoni began to encircle one another, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Malgus - perfectly aware that Kuci was stalking him from the shadows - remained vigilant and reached out through the Force to sense her presence whilst guarding against the impending attack from Aeoni. Kuci appeared out of stealth several feet behind him, instantly drawing his attention as she swung her purple and black double bladed lightsaber in a sweeping arc across her front, casting a highly charged burst of lightning at the Dark Lord. Malgus turned and leapt towards her, crashing down on her with a powerful blow from his single red lightsaber. This opened the window of opportunity for Aeoni to strike since Malgus was clearly overly focused on the sister whom he knew... and feared.

As the three of them continued to fight at the base of the stairs, Malgus reached an open hand towards Kuci and lifted her off the ground - choking her in the process - whilst keeping her suspended in the air he turned to see that Aeoni had retreated back along bridge that formed the approach into the throne room. Malgus leapt towards her, the pace of their duelling increasing now as Malgus forced Aeoni backwards one step at a time. Kuci finally broke free of Malgus' sustained choking thanks to Aeoni's duelling him breaking the Dark Lord's concentration. She ran raster than she ever thought was possible as she watched Malgus slowly force her sister closer to the edge of the bridge. Kuci approached Malgus from behind and looking deep into the concentrated eyes of Aeoni, she found the strength within herself to reach out through the Force and lift Malgus off the ground as he had done to her not moments before. Seeing Kuci focused on holding Malgus in the air, Aeoni promptly reached out - also with a strength she had never before felt possible - and held Malgus in his suspended position. Kuci then mustered all the inner power she could find and hunkered back as she cast a stream of bright purple lightning at the Dark Lord. The entire throne room flickered from the bright intensity of the lightning as Aeoni released her grasp on Malgus and allowed Kuci's attack to send him hurtling over the side of the bridge and into the abyss below.

Both panting for breath still, the sisters huddled together. Aeoni looked into Kuci's eyes while Kuci simply nodded to confirm she was ok. Aeoni promptly ran to Mysti's side as the twilek began to regain conciousness "Don't move Mysti, it's over now. Malgus is gone". Kuci approached the two Jedi, wondering to herself what would happen next; where would they go, what would they do, how could they possibly begin to fulfill the destiny Orgus Din and Lord Kallig had informed them of. Mysti slowly returned to a seated position, leaning back against the wall she was previously slammed into while Aeoni kept a comforting around her. She looked up at Kuci as she approached, still barely able to reconcile the fact that this Sith was a friend. Before Mysti could say anything, her holocom began to beep. The sisters both looked to the holocom, then back to Mysti as she pulled it out and starts to giggle. Aeoni looked up at Kuci with an eyebrow raised in confusion, Kuci could only shrug her shoulders as she watched the twilek continue giggling to herself. Mysti turned her attention to Aeoni "Aeoni, it's midnight... happy birthday!" She slowly turned her gaze up towards Kuci "And a happy birthday to you too, Kuci." Kuci couldn't believe it, her entire life she had not even known when her birthday was and now here she stood; side by side with the sister she never knew she had, on the dawn of a destiny she never knew was hers, and it was midnight... on her birthday.


End file.
